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Castaic was awash in color Saturday as more than 1,500 people from in and outside the Santa Clarita Valley ran or walked as part of the “Santa Colorita” 5K fun run.

The run was sponsored by the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce and held at the Castaic Lake Recreation Area.

“It’s never been done in the Santa Clarita Valley before and the turnout has been phenomenal,” said Terri Crain, chief executive officer of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce. “We were told that we would be lucky to get 500 runners and today we have 1,700 runners.

“So this is obviously an event that the community has embraced,” Crain said.

Participants in the Santa Colorita run started in waves. Just before the gun sounded to start each wave, attendees would open bags of colored corn starch and wave them over their heads, creating a mid-air collection of color that rained down on the runners and walkers.

If that didn’t do the trick, participants were able to get touch-ups throughout the course, where volunteers would apply extra layers of powder.

Proceeds of the event went to benefit the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce as well as the WiSH Education Foundation — a fundraising arm of the William. S. Hart Union High School District.

Organizers say they definitely plan on staging the event next year.

“This has been an amazing event; we were sad we had to close it down when it sold out,” said Myles McNamara, owner of Comfort Keepers In-Home Care, who co-chaired the event along with Diane Blair, also of Comfort Keepers. “So next year we’re going to do it again.